Empress Mo kowtowed to Emperor Jin and calmly said, "Your Majesty, this concubine has disobeyed the divine command and presumptuously came to see Zhao Yang. I am truly guilty. I dare not defend myself, but may Your Majesty punish me. This concubine will bear it without complaint!"
Husband and wife for many years, Empress Mo has come to understand the temperament of the emperor well. Now, if she were to defend herself or beg for mercy, the emperor would surely become even more angry. It would be better to candidly admit her mistake, which might temper his anger slightly and prevent her from appearing too distressed.
Jin Guifei interjected, "The Empress Dowager sure is daring. But I wonder if there is something the Empress Dowager felt compelled to say to the princess that she ran the risk of defying the divine command and ventured here?"
Empress Mo flatly denied her accusation, lifting her head to gaze at Emperor Jin Ming, and said passionately, "Your Majesty, Zhao Yang has made a grave mistake, and Your Majesty may find it hard to forgive her, but she is, after all, flesh of my flesh. Tomorrow she is to be married off to a desolate and bitterly cold place thousands of miles away. After this parting, we might never see each other again in our lifetime. My heart could not bear it, so I came here to see her one last time, to honor our mother-daughter bond. It is not that I intended to defy Your Majesty’s command."
Having said that, she shed tears.
The Empress has been in the palace for over twenty years and has always been cold and indifferent. No one has ever seen her cry, even the emperor himself has never seen the Empress showing such a pitiful appearance. For a time, he was somewhat reluctant to reprimand her any further.
Seeing the emperor’s expression soften, Zhao Yang quickly crawled forward, fell on her knees before Emperor Jin Ming, kowtowing and crying, "Imperial Father, Zhao Yang is unfilial and disappoints you. I don’t dare to ask for your forgiveness, but tomorrow I have to leave, please allow Zhao Yang to kowtow to you one last time. Afterwards, I won’t have the chance to..."
Both mother and daughter wept till they became tear-streaked. This successfully dissolved Emperor Jin’s rage. In fact, after hearing the Empress’s deeply grieving words, his anger was greatly diminished. Then, seeing Zhao Yang’s haggard and pitiful appearance, his heart softened even more.
As a father, he may not love his children as much as their mother does, but he certainly doesn’t lack affection for his own offspring. Even if Zhao Yang is a disappointment, she is still his daughter. Seeing her current plight, especially considering her future fate, Emperor Jin also showed signs of being deeply moved.
Seeing the emperor soften, Jin Guifei quickly interjected, "If it really is as the Empress says, it would indeed be understandable. However, this concubine has heard that the Empress plans to have the princess kidnapped en route to her wedding. If she came to see the princess for this reason, then the crime committed by both the Empress and the princess is one of grave deception!"
Without any mercy, she exposed the secret plans of Empress Mo and Zhao Yang, aiming to catch them off guard.
As expected, Zhao Yang, still young, was visibly distressed when Jin Guifei uncovered her and her mother’s secret plot. Her teary face suddenly lifted, revealing her panic.
Seeing this, Jin Guifei felt even more confident about the information she had gathered. With a pursuit in full swing, she asked, "Why is the Princess showing such an expression, have I hit the nail on the head?"
Empress Mo coldly replied, "Jin Guifei is overthinking. Zhao Yang is young and easily frightened. She’s merely startled by Jin Guifei’s audacious conjecture!"
Jin Guifei snorted with cold laughter, glanced at Empress Mo, and turned to Emperor Jin Ming.
"Your Majesty, suppose what this concubine has said is true, what would you do?"
"Jin Guifei, are you trying to convict me and Zhao Yang based on your speculation? Or do you want to use this unfounded crime to trick the Emperor into punishing us?"